Thirty days.
The countdown has started, North America shivers under the shadow of a massive alien spacecraft, and humanity is hurtling toward an unknown future that lurks at the end of the timer. Somewhere, somehow, the heroes are making their plan...
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DENALI NATIONAL PARK, ALASKA, USA
AUGUST 2, 1:00 PM
"I should have stayed at the base camp." Emily is staring at Jacob, who just slipped on a rock and fell, banging his elbow and twisting his ankle. She is unsympathetic. We are two weeks into our six-week grand Alaskan wilderness adventure, but it's been enough time for me to get a feel for who the others are. And how well everyone is coping without cell phones, since there's no reception here anyway.
"Don't take your boot off," Aidan warns. "You might not get it back on again."
"Shit," Jacob says, and I know what he's thinking. We only have a couple more hours to go today to reach the base camp and the rest of the group—but double that if he can't walk without help.
We broke camp at five a.m. Just as the sun came up. But even exhausted from a full day's hike, I didn't get much sleep. I'm not used to the long daylight hours, with sunset not happening until eleven p.m. It will be a while before the days get shorter, and winter comes.
By then, I'll have gone back to my hometown in Western Pennsylvania, in the hills where my love of hiking was born. But only for a few days before I leave for good. After that, my life will never be the same again.
There are eight of us altogether, plus our tour guide, Marcel. There were supposed to be two guides, but Liuna tested positive for COVID the day we were to fly from Fairbanks to our drop-off point at Denali National Park, and there was no time to get a replacement. Since Aidan has spent his life in Alaska, the tour company reluctantly decided we could go ahead, as long as everyone signed waivers. All of us are over 18 - just barely.
It took a week to hike to the area that will serve as our initial base camp. We all thought we were in good shape, but it turned out to be some more than others. Which is why half the group voted to stay at camp, rest up a little, and practice their wilderness skills with Marcel, while the other half of us were determined to head north, hoping to get a spectacular view of Denali—the highest mountain peak in North America—before our group moves further southwest along the Alaska Range.
"Emily," Jacob says, "for five minutes can you not be a bitch?"
She just stares at him, then turns and starts back down the trail. I lean down and give him a hand up.
"Thanks, Madison."
"Can you walk?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he says, but he's clearly not. I hand him the trek poles he should have been using before and maybe he wouldn't have fallen. Aidan insisted we bring them, although both Jacob and Emily protested it was just one more unnecessary thing adding weight to their backpacks. Aidan won, because that's what Aidan does, in his quiet way.
